FARMINGTON – The Mt. Blue Cougars were in a rather exploitative mood against Hampden Academy on Friday night.

Whether it was finding a soft spot in the middle of the Hampden defense or making the Broncos’ tired shooters work hard for good shots, the Cougars exploited every weakness they could find and picked up their fifth win in a row as a result, 58-45.

Ben Russell led the Cougars with 20 points, but it was Joe Gilbert (17 points, five rebounds, four assists) and Jamie Sawyer (16 points, seven rebounds, five assists) who gave Hampden fits by attacking the defense in the lane and either getting layups or setting up open teammates after the defense collapsed upon their penetration.

“We knew they were going to really play up tight defensively on us, and we knew if we could get by them, it could open up some passing lanes,” Sawyer said.

Mt. Blue (5-2) outscored Hampden, 15-2, in the final five minutes. Bradley Haase’s 3-pointer from the top of the key tied the game at 43 with 5:15 left. Gilbert put the Cougars in front for good with a runner, then collected back-to-back assists on a backdoor feed to Sawyer and a drive and dish to Justin Kobischen for a 3-point play.

“Halfway through the game, coach (Jim) Bessey told me to keep driving and that I could get all the way to the rim, because before I was pulling up and stopping,” Gilbert said. “He told me to keep going and something good would happen, and he was right, like always.”

The remainder of the Cougars’ points came from the charity stripe, and the Broncos didn’t score again until Justin Brown’s foul-line jumper temporarily pulled them back within single digits with 40 seconds remaining. Hampden made just four of 19 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter.

“Coach always tells us the last few minutes are the most important of the game, so we really decided to step it up and play hard. We didn’t want to let them back in the game,” Sawyer said.

“That was a big win right there,” Bessey said. “We executed offensively (and) made our foul shots when we had to.”

The Cougars probably would have pulled away earlier if they had converted a few more lay-ups. But they didn’t force many shots and took very good care of the basketball (seven turnovers).

“We missed some easy stuff inside but we got to the rim very well and shared the ball pretty well on the offensive end,” Bessey said.

Mt. Blue led by as much as nine in the first half. Hampden, which was in the middle of a stretch of three games in three nights, battled back to within one at halftime with a 12-4 run sparked by Haase (14 points).

The Broncos made a concerted effort to get the ball inside to Brown (10 points, 10 rebounds) to start the second half, but didn’t stay patient enough to exploit their size advantage.

“We’d have success getting the ball inside and then get away from it for two possessions and both possessions would hurt us,” said Hampden coach Russ Bartlett, whose team lost to Lawrence on Thursday night. “I thought we looked tired and we’ve got to play again tomorrow (against Mt. Ararat).”

The lead changed hands six times in the third quarter. The Cougars led by three going into the fourth and had as much as a five-point cushion before Hampden made one final run.

Mt. Blue hopes its fourth quarter success carries over to next week.

“We’re flying pretty high right now,” Gilbert said. “We’ve got (unbeaten) Bangor next, though (on Tuesday).”